Texas Doctor Sentenced to Probation for Raping Patient

This week, a jury found Dr. Shafeeq Sheikh guilty of raping a patient at a Houston hospital.

His punishment?

A mere decade of probation.

KTRK reports that Sheikh sexually assaulted the victim at least three times. According to court documents, the victim was admitted to Ben Taub Hospital in November of 2013. She was heavily sedated during the attacks, and says she tried to call for help. The morning after the assaults, it was discovered that her call button had been disconnected.

The Houston Chronicle reports that investigators discovered surveillance footage of Sheikh accessing the patient's floor with his hospital ID card a dozen times despite his not being assigned to her case, and DNA evidenced linked him to the assault. In 2014, Sheikh was fired from the hospital. His medical license was suspended in 2015.

Sheikh's defense team argued that their client did have sexual intercourse with a patient, but that the encounters were consensual. They argued that the victim was alert during these encounters, and that she was attempting to use sex with Sheikh to make her husband jealous.